Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, a professor from Yale.
Bingham was searching for Vilcabamba, which was the undiscovered last strong-hold of the Incan Empire. When he stumbled upon Machu Picchu he thought he had found it, although now most scholars believe that Machu Picchu is not Vilcabamba. Hiram Bingham was an American historian from Yale University searching for one of the last Inca cities that resisted the Spanish invasion. The hist-orian was driven by the desire to find the last city of the Incas, he also heard rumours from Cuzco's University's North American rector about the existence of uncovered ruins in the Urubamba Jungle.
Bingham conducted extensive research in the regions of the Uruamba and Vilcabamba, when he made the astonishing discovery on July 24th, 1911, when he met a group of Quechuans who were actually living in Machu Picchu, also using the agriculture terraces there. He was lead to the site of the ruins of a six centuries-old Inca city by a group of locals who he met in the area.
Bingham conducted a survey of the area and completed archeological studies. Photographs are taken of the ruins still covered with dense vegetat-ion. It covered all of the buildings, many buildings were collapsed however, most of them were intact. The roofs of course, were gone because they were made of easily perishable materials, like wood and grass. Even a while after he discovered Machu Picchu, Bingham thought that it was Vitcos....."
